er and Morton, and there might be more--one of
whom might be the man he sought. It seemed to him that his next business
must be to find those other members, ascertain if any of them were tall
men, and if so, obtain a copy of their finger-prints.

But how was this to be done? Obviously from the shadowing of the members
whom he knew, that was, Captain Beamish, Bulla, and Benson, the Ferriby
manager. Of these, Beamish and Bulla were for the most part at sea;
therefore, he thought, his efforts should be concentrated on Benson.

It was with a view to some such contingency that he had alighted at
Doncaster instead of returning to London, and he now made up his mind
to return on the following day to Hull and, the Girondin having by that
time left, to see what he could learn at the Ferriby depot.

He spent three days shadowing Benson, without coming on anything in the
slightest degree suspicious. The manager spent each of the days at the
wharf until about six o'clock. Then he walked to Ferriby Station and
took the train to Hull, where he dined, spent the evening at some place
of amusement, and returned to the depot by a late train.

On the fourth day, as the same program seemed to be in prowess, Willis
came to the conclusion that he was losing time and must take some more
energetic step. He determined that if Benson left the depot in the
evening as before, he would try to effect an entrance to his office and
have a look through his papers.

Shortly after six, from the hedge behind which he had concealed himself,
he saw Benson appear at the door in the corrugated iron fence, and
depart in the direction of Ferriby. The five employees had left about
an hour earlier, and the inspector believed the works were entirely
deserted.

After giving Benson time to get clear away, he crept from his hiding
place, and approaching the depot, tried the gate in the fence. It was
locked, but few locks were proof against the inspector's prowess, and
with the help of a bent wire he was soon within the enclosure. He closed
We gate behind hint and glancing carefully round, approached the shed.

The door of the office was also locked, but the bent wire conquered it
too, and in a couple of minutes he pushed it open, passed through, and
closed it behind him.

The room was small, finished with yellow matchboarded walls and ceiling,
and containing a closed roll-top desk, a table littered with papers,
a vertical file, two cupboards, a telephone, and